


His Heels Attend

by hariboo



Series: Cami and Connor's Adventures in NOLA [2]
Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Animal POV, F/M, Pet POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 09:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7796431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hariboo/pseuds/hariboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor O'Connell saves lives, well, one life, but it's a very important to him and all involved. Or Luck of the Irish Pet Owner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Heels Attend

**Author's Note:**

> Hey remember when I decided that Cami getting a dog could make everything 100% better. Here's the proof. Hilariously I started writing this as a fix it fic to Campire, who I loved, but I wanted to keep Cami human a little longer because her story as the human of the show wasn't done for me. Now I'm just writing to fix all this betrayal.

_He's missing Mom. Mom has been gone for days and his gut tells him something is wrong. He doesn't know what but he can feel it. He can smell it. Also Mom never forgets to feed him and he's had to break into the treat bag, three times. She doesn't like it when he does that, but she hasn't been around to flick his nose._

_He howls every time the light changes from the window but no one comes. The voices from nearby tell him to shut up._

_He's reminded of Before Mom and the sound the mean things that didn't care about him. But the treat bag is open and the bed still smells like Mom and so does everything around him. He's still safe. He hopes she doesn't yell at him for going yellow and brown on the rug. She wasn't around to take him out. He doesn't want Mom to be mean to him._

_So Connor howls and waits and even though his nose and gut tell him something is wrong he hopes Mom will come back soon with her warm hands and her love._

_Mom doesn't come._

_He comes. The one that smells like dead wolf and blood._

_Connor growls when he shows up at the window. He always does that. It's rude. Mom doesn't like it._

_Conn doesn't like him but as he approaches he says the name that others call Mom by. Camille. Conn barks at her name and sniffs._

_Under the blood and dead wolf he smells like Mom. Connor doesn't understand why Mom cares about so many dead things and wolves, but she does and he's not allowed to bite all of them._

_That's why he lets the dead wolf pick him up._

_“She bloody well appreciate this, mutt. God knows why she’s so fond of you.”_

_Connor snaps his teeth at him._

_Soon, too fast against his fur, they're somewhere else. The big house that smells like death. But there! Conn sees Mom, jumps from the dead wolf’s arms, and slaps him with his tail as he goes to her._

_-_

Cami gasps when she sees him. Conn bounds over to her, skidding against the smooth tile of the compound’s patio before slapping his paws on her lap and licking her face. She can’t help but laugh and it feels like first true sound she’s made since leaving Lucien and Aurora’s hands. 

“Oh, hi, baby boy! How are you? I was so worried about you. Were you worried too?” Cami strokes his fur and presses her cheek against his neck. Conn cuddles closer to her and it's a struggle for Cami not to cry. He climbs onto the couch she's on and drapes himself over her lap, nudging his head under her chin. Cami holds him close. She woke up about ten minutes ago worried about him and asked Freya if she could check on him. Klaus must have overheard. 

Speaking of, Klaus cocks his head at them. “If the state of your flat is anything to go be he was very worried.” 

“Oh, crap. My mom’s rug.”

“In fact there was. All over it. I'll have cleaning service over later today. It'll look as good as new by tomorrow.”

Cami flushes but is also grateful she won't have to deal with it. “Thanks.” She scratches behind Conn’s head as he shuffles into her stomach. She getting that annoying tingling feeling of tears in her eyes again and wipes at them. It’s been a shitty week and Klaus was already being too nice, but now he's gone and brought her dog over. He doesn't even like Conner.

“Hey, thanks for this,” she says, absently running her hand down Conn’s flank. “I--”

“Say no more, love. Can't have you sulking over the mutt.”

She rolls her eyes, feeling the lightest she has in days. “He's not a mutt.” Conn nuzzles closer to her and gives a little growl when Klaus sits on the other end of the couch. Klaus growls back. 

Cami bites back a grin.

-

The next couple days are spent doing… absolutely nothing. Christmas creeps up on them and Cami finds herself helping Freya with the decorations and set up. It's something to do. The O’Connells used to be great at Christmas, big tree, big dinner, Uncle Kieran’s midnight mass. Lots of eggnog. Leftovers for days. 

And even though she’s barely leaving the compound she still knows all the shop owners from the Quarter to the Tremé that’ll still give them good deals on twinkle lights and wrapping paper. It's always a pleasant surprise how many people remember her family. Last year Christmas had been a lonely affair. Circumstances aside she likes where she is this year. 

Freya is the one that goes and get most of the supplies as Cami pads around the compound, Conn on her tail. It makes Cami feel like a bit of a wimp, but she's allowed to want to take a break too. 

At least Conn’s been incredibly well behaved, so much to the point she asks Klaus and Elijah if they compelled him. Elijah scoffs while Klaus mutters he should. Conn still keeps growling at him and out right barks at Elijah. He's only quiet and gentle when Hayley brings Hope around. He follows Hope around like it’s his job and it's cute as hell to watch him herd her from all sharp edges. 

It's kinda nice, being around a big family, Cami thinks during these days, even if it's a dysfunctional and murderous ones. But they all like her and it's messed up that this is the safest Cami has felt in a long time, surrounded by monsters of various kinds, but it is what it is. 

Peace, of course, never last long, especially with this family, Camille has come to expect.

-

Somehow, they manage their own version of it anyway. 

She's thinking that when she hears Klaus come up the step to the balcony. Rebekah just left, her short goodbye to Cami had been mostly a threat not to break her brother’s heart. It made her flush and think about earlier at Kinney’s. How she had almost kissed him then. 

Their various almost kisses. 

Each held in limbo, neither acknowledging them after by silent agreement to not further complicate what was already a complicated relationship. Add on top of that Klaus’ fear of anything that made him vulnerable, yeah, they never talked about those moments if they could avoid it. 

For Cami it had been different though. She had gone into this with eyes wide open. Well, as open as she could. 

At first it had been what she thought as simply complicated feelings to a hard to read guy, after she found out the truth complicated didn't begin to cover it. But falling for and loving Klaus didn't stop him from being a monster. The empathy she held for him didn't diminish, but it didn't grow. It didn't make her blind to who he was, to what he would do to others. What he could do to her if he ever stopped caring about her. 

She had always understood, to a degree, his impulses. Understood the fundamental reason he was the way he was, but she also saw him temper himself for her at times. 

No, falling for and loving Klaus was not a question of forgetting he was a true monster. A source of terrible deeds. It was accepting she made the choice to not ignore her feelings towards him despite it, but allowed them to strengthen. 

Not all monsters deserved love, but it was too late for her in this regard. She was already in love with one.

That much could at least admit to herself. It was an incredibly scary thing to admit, even only to herself, considering his habit of leaving her stranded whenever they got too close to crossing the line.

Maybe Rebekah was right. Crossing the line would be too dangerous. 

Cami sighs, trying to forgot Rebekah’s words. 

Of course, that's when he slips on the balcony beside her.

“You look,” she hears Klaus say and she’s not ready for whatever he’s going to say next. Not right now. 

“Don’t say tired. You’ve lived long enough to know you should never tell a woman she looks tired.” She cuts in, making him laugh, giving them the out. She didn’t even want to, but she’s gotten too good at it. He had that look in his eyes, the one she wants and longs for when she lets herself admit it. The same one he always has before he runs away from her. Maybe it’s time to stop running. 

Klaus lets the tease soothe over them and the hellish day, days really, they’ve had. He grins, sliding up to her. “I was going to say contemplative.” His easy manner and smile bringing out her own. 

They’re good at this, side-stepping their feelings. It exhausts her. She doesn’t want to play at it anymore.

So when he asks what she’s thinking about, Cami tells him the truth. She doesn’t like lying to Klaus. Her penny is a pound. Her penny is all the fears she has about what lies between them. She knows she’s human, that she’s weaker, but she doesn’t like to be consider helpless. She wants to be considered an asset, if not an equal, in Klaus’ life, not a weakness. 

Mentioning Aurora make her insides turn, but she can’t be hide from her forever. Klaus grimaces. “Don’t, please. When I think of all way she could have hurt you…”

And that’s the point. She doesn’t want that to be how he constantly thinks of her: as someone that could always be hurt or used to hurt him. 

“She didn’t,” she says, interrupting him. “She didn’t. Because of you.” She tells him how she notices his loyalty, warped as it is, to family, how he’ll protect them from everything, but she already knows the drive behind that. It was what he did for Kinney today that surprised her when she thought nothing else could. The hope and kindness he showed. That’s a Klaus she only glimpses at the edges of his violence and anger. So she asks him why he helped Kinney because that’s the answer that matters, the answer she keeps her hanging around. "Why did you help someone you don't even know?" 

The look in his eye is back, the one he runs away from after. Cami steels herself. 

“Because you wished it.”

His answer unravels her. He continues to unravel her.

“Because what’s important to you is important to me. What makes me happy makes me what to keep you so. What scares you I want to tear apart.” And she knows it’s true, she’s seen it, felt it. At those words she has to look away from him, her chest too full, her heart beating too fast. It’s only his following words at bring her gaze back to him. “I do not wish to look at you from behind glass, Camille.” She's always loved how he says her name.

“What do you wish?” Cami says, her voice too soft, she barely hears herself. 

The moment hangs and part of her fears he’ll move to run again. 

He does move. 

But not away. 

He pushes towards her like he’s diving of a cliff into something unknown. Cami doesn’t know how to do anything else but catch him.

His mouth is warm and confident and soft. The last surprises her. He doesn’t push hard against her lips, he doesn’t devour her the way she’s always thought he might. He kisses her like he’s afraid she’ll push him away. 

Cami raises her hands to slide over his cheek, keeping him close to her lips, before she rests them on his shoulders. She grips him to her. She won’t run either. 

Under the lights that hang all over the courtyard the kiss feels oddly magical, storybook like. When they part their smiles match. 

He pulls them towards one of the couches in a room nearby with gentle words and kisses her more. He skims her skin with clever fingers, leaving goosebumps in their wake. Despite her speech before of not wanting to be treated like a fragile, breakable thing, he’s exceedingly gentle with her. 

“You are precious,” he murmurs against her cheeks, lips skimming her jaw. Cami smiles, pulling his face back towards her, nudging her nose to his. Precious. She can live with precious. 

When she tugs him towards her borrowed bedroom, his cheeks flush and she grins. His own wolf grin follows not second after before it softens. This isn't a time for teasing.

The bed is soft against her back. Klaus is solid but yielding over her. He crawls over her but she doesn’t feel like prey under his gaze. She feels cherished. His mouth slants over hers, their kisses grow deeper, his hands hold her tighter. They press close to each other, her leg pulled over one hip, and when they finally take a breath, Cami can’t look away from him. He’s the softest she’s ever seen him without Hope in his arms. He looks almost scared. 

And that’s when she understands. 

Cradling his face between her hands, she wants to tell him she loves him too, but there’s soon and there’s _too_ soon. Sliding one hand down his neck, she covers his heart. Klaus’ eyes flutter and she hopes he understands.

He pulls her close, their heads on the same pillow and she strangely wants to cry. Klaus kisses her eyelids and then her lips softly. 

Cami doesn’t look away from him, her hand still over his heart. His clenched tightly on her waist, holding her like he’s afraid she’ll disappear. 

“Stay,” she whispers. “Please.”

Klaus sighs, “I’d be nowhere else tonight.”

Cami doesn’t know when they fall asleep, but when she wakes there’s only a moment of joy as she notices how Klaus stayed with her before everything becomes a haze under Aurora’s compulsion. She doesn’t even notice Conn paws at her back, the reason she woke in the first place.

-

_He pads away from the cub and the Alpha in search of Mom. He can smell the dead wolf with her, but the smell is familiar now. He doesn't know how Mom handles it._

_They're in the room he and mom have been staying in. On the bed. Connor growls low because the bed is his spot. The dead wolf should leave. He ambles over and puts his paws by Mom and whines, trying to clamber on._

_Mom wakes up. She’s slow to it, and Conn is happy because it means she'll kick the dead wolf out and they can sleep. The house of dead people always smells like blood but the food is good and he likes the cub and her alpha mother._

_On the bed Mom moves slow, so slow, and Conn whines. She sits up and reaches for something he can't see. He whines again because she's being weird. Mom always scratches behind his ears when she wakes up. She's ignoring him now. It's wrong and weird and…_

_Mom drinks something-- Conn sniffs. Blood! Why is Mom drinking blood! But then she does something Conn doesn't understand even more._

_Mom hurts herself._

_The smell of blood is heavy and Conn does the only thing he can. He barks as loud as he can because someone needs to help Mom._

_-_

Klaus is ready to kill the mutt for waking him up. As much as he loves Camille the mutt is an incessant hog for her attention and hates him. 

He's ready to--

The smell of the blood is what shocks him awake. He knows that blood, it's--

The mutt is barking a storm up and Camille’s hand is just falling away from her neck. The razor blade clatters to the floor. 

Klaus scrambles on the bed to cover the slash with his hands, trying to staunch the flow of blood. There's too much, he immediately thinks. It coats his hand and her neck. It slips through his fingers and for the first time in a long time he wishes he didn't know how much it takes for someone to bleed out. 

He yells. His siblings. Anyone. Or maybe he doesn't. He's not sure, maybe it's the mutt’s barks that warn them. 

Everything has blurred except the feeling of Camille’s blood under his hands, the wide look in her eyes as he tells her to stay with him, the way her pulse is skittering, and her lips as they mouth his name. Her hands scramble against his and he's not sure if she's trying to push him off or hold on to him. Klaus tells her not to fight him, just in case. A part of him immediately knows this was a result of compulsion. Camille would never hurt herself. 

He bites at his wrist, still trying to keep pressure on the slash, presses his bloody arm to her mouth. He's not sure how he's doing this until he realises Elijah’s hands have joined his. Elijah’s fingers press into Cami’s throat, pinching her aorta, making sure the blood flow slows. Elijah has always had a more precise nature. Not for the first time Klaus appreciates it. 

In the background he's vaguely aware the mutt is still barking, that Freya’s started a spell, and of Hayley appearing by the door with a crying Hope. The barks and yelling much have woken her up. 

What the spell Freya is performing does he doesn't know, but for once Klaus implicitly trust his siblings. They care about Camille nearly as much as he does. At the edge of the room, Hayley is holding Hope, who wails and tries to look into the room. Immediately, Klaus snaps his head up the same instance that Hayley turns Hope’s face away trying to both soothe and shield her. Klaus thinks about how much his daughter and Cami love each other, how happy Hope gets when Cami spends time with her. For a brief moment he imagines a world without them.

“Can someone SHUT THE MUTT UP.” He yells, hating the sympathy and fear he saw his Hayley’s eyes. The same fear that echoes within him. 

“Conner, stop,” Hayley commands and the mutt quiets. He doesn't move from where he's been perched on Cami’s side of the bed but his barks are now low whimpers. Hope doesn’t quite under her mother’s commanding voice. She’s still crying, louder and louder. The room feels heavier.

In his arms, Camille’s eyes have closed and he urges her to open them again. “Stay with us, Camille. There are so many more stories I have to share with you. Look at me. Look at me. There, yes, keep your eyes on me.” He’s close to begging, he will if he needs too. He’ll rip apart the world if he needs to. 

From the thin skin of his wrist, his blood still flows into Cami’s mouth. He can feel the struggle for her to swallow as her muscle tissue is still mostly severed but slowly, too slowly, he's aged a thousand more years in these quick minutes, they start to repair. Her heartbeat stops slowing. He watches as her eyes flutter and he can tell she can't seem to focus. Then the mutt gives one sharp back. Camille's eyes flit to him and hold. The mutt barks again. Camille blinks, with purpose this time. Her heartbeat is holding steady, too slow but steady.

Klaus lets out a breath. She really loves that dog. 

“That right, Camille, focus. Stay with us.” He tries to be the calm center she is for him. He tries to soothe her, lessen the fear he clinging to her. He's not focused enough to pull her mind completely into his but he creates the link anyway. In his mind he hears her voice, small and scared. It repeats his name, her mind echoes the pain she’s feeling. He tells her it'll all be okay. He can tell she doesn't believe him. 

“You'll feel very foolish when I'm proven right,” he says out loud. 

From his wrist the blood is flowing steadier down her throat. His other hand is stroking her hair. He's not sure when he started doing that. The dog has started to lick her ear in a comforting manner. His tongue catches Klaus’ fingers every other stroke. Cami swallows deeply and meets his gaze. _Don't let go._ Her panic had abated somewhat, but she's still so scared. It infuriates Klaus. 

“You're not dying today, love,” he says. Promises. He feels her find a grip on his shirt and shifts his hold on her to hold her closer. The dog climbs on the bed hurriedly, keeping close to his mistress. He covers her legs with his body and whimpers against her stomach. Elijah adjusts his grip on her neck. There's blood on the cuffs of his shirt. He normally takes the time to roll them up when doing dirty work. 

Klaus barely registers their movements. His entire focus has narrowed to Camille’s heartbeat and how much blood she's drinking. Her face and neck are a mess, a mix of his blood and hers. His arm is no better, ripped open at the vein, still bleeding freely. He’s probably losing more blood than is healthy even for him. He couldn’t care less.

He vaguely hears Elijah mention her muscles and veins are almost finished rebuilding. His hand is still holding her neck together. Freya’s magic is heavy in the air. Hayley is murmuring calming words to still crying Hope. It’s good to know his daughter has a healthy set of lungs.

From his perch the mutt howls.

Freya’s magic snaps. 

Elijah’s hands leave Camille’s healing throat.

Camille chokes on the blood he’s feeding, weakly pushes his wrist away.

“No,” escapes from Klaus’s lips.

Hope gives one final wail as Hayley mutters Camille's name.

“Klaus,” Camille says before her eyes roll back and she goes limp in his arms.

In that moment everything turns red and black to Klaus. His beast begins to climb out in ways he hasn't let it in a while. It rips away from the gentle hold of Camille’s love and understanding it had been languishing in. 

He will destroy every inch of this city, of this world, until whoever is responsible for this becomes something less than a memory. He will make them pay with more than their lives but their souls, their existence. In his arms Camille is pale and bloody when she should be glowing bright. Someone will answer for this--

He growls, deep and terrible, his eyes shifting from the amber of the wolf to something darker and red.

Pushing from the bed, the only gentleness in his action is laying Camille back down on the bed. Elijah and Freya are saying something but they are nothing but white noise. He’s only got one focus in his mind: make them pay for Camille. 

He doesn’t register Elijah’s hands until the second before his neck breaks. 

-

_The pack of the dead wolf circled Mom and helped her. They circled her holding her with their dead hands and magic, trying to keep her alive._

_Conner doesn’t like many of them, especially the dead wolf and his too clean monster of a brother, but he likes the cub, the Alpha, and the sister witch. And all of them helped Mom. All of them helped keep Mom alive in their own way._

_But something happened to the dead wolf when Mom fell into sleep -- healing sleep, the sister witch said when they started to move them -- and the brother monster had to stop him from letting his monster out. He fell into a different kind of sleep over Mom’s body, almost over Conn’s body. The cub stopped crying then, like she knew Mom was gonna be okay now, and the Alpha let the sister witch take her as she helped the brother monster move them from the room. Conn let her touch Mom, because he knew Mom wouldn’t want to wake up on this bed again. The brother monster took care of the dead wolf. Conn followed the Alpha as she cleaned Mom and put her in a new bed. It was the dead wolf’s bed, it smelled like him, earth and blood. The dead wolf was on it too._

_The Alpha and the brother monster said to let them rest._

_Conn climbed on the bed and rested his head on Mom’s stomach._

_“Niklaus would not like the dog on the bed.”_

_“Too bad for him then because I’m not gonna move him and neither are you.”_

_“Who do you think did this?”_

_The Alpha touched Mom’s face gently. “Had to be Lucien or Aurora, Cami’s not been around anyone else who would want to hurt her. I have half a mind to go after them myself right now.”_

_“I feel the exact same way.”_

_The sister witch voice cut in then. “Brother, Hayley, we need to talk.”_

_“Freya? What’s the matter? What’s wrong.”_

_“My spell, I think… I did more than just keep Camille’s heart beating. And I think I had help.”_

-

For the second time in twenty-four hours, Cami wakes up to see Klaus’s face next to her. Unlike last time--

Oh God, last time. 

Oh God, what did she do to herself. 

Bolting straight up on the bed, Cami clutches at her throat. It was-- it _is_ whole. Unmarred. Her hands are clean, her neck is clean. She is in clean clothes. She’s, oh God, she’s alive. She’s alive.

The sobs come them, heavy and thick, wet and loud. Cami curls into herself, her cries getting louder and louder, unchecked and uncontrolled. It wakes Conner up, who’s stretched out over her legs. She remembers everything. She had woken up and Conner had been there. She had tried to kill herself and he was the only reason she didn’t manage to. 

Reaching for her dog, she cuddles him close to her chest, letting her tears catch on his fur. He's angling his face to lick her face and nuzzle her. His low whines of affection fill her heart. 

It must wake Klaus up, her moving around and crying, because he starts beside her. She hears his growl and curse-- it's aimed at Elijah, making her wonder what happened there. The last thing she remembers is the taste of blood in her mouth and the mental link snapping when she passed out. 

He must notice her before going to fulfill his threat to Elijah, because next thing she knows his arms are wrapped around her. Her name rips from his throat like a prayer. 

“Camille, you’re alive.” It’s awkward as hell, with her holding Conn to her chest, but Klaus manages to pull her half on his lap and cradle her face. His thumbs stroke her cheekbones. She feels his fingers rest against her pulse point. One hand lingers there, the other tangles in her hair and cradles her head. 

She only nods, words still stuck between the sobs in her throat. She reaches out and brushes her thumb against his cheek like he did to her. She catches the tear before it even fully leaves his eye. She wants to say something, but thank you feels too small for what just happened. I love you feels too big, too simplistic. 

His mouth is on hers in the next second, somehow surprising her. It’s still softer than she had ever imagined from him. A gentle reminder of their first kiss such a short time ago, but somehow it’s more, stronger. It feels like a lifetime had passed from that moment on the balcony.

When they part, she seeps her eyes on his. Part of her never wants to close her eyes again. Another part wants to inject vervain in her bloodstream. A smaller, angier part that is the loudest of all want to find Aurora and turn her to dust.

Klaus’s thumbs wipe under her eyes again, as if he’s erasing her tear tracks. A few still slip out regardless. He cups her head and presses their forehead together forcing all those thoughts away for an all too brief second. On her lap, Conn butts his head against Klaus’ chest and is ignored.

“Camille, I,” he starts, and believe it or not, she doesn’t want to hear what she can feel is coming. She doesn’t want it like this, in the aftermath of blood and despair. Or at least not in the aftermath of _her_ blood and despair. 

“You can’t ever say shit about my dog ever again,” she cuts him off, dragging her palms over her eyes in a futile look like she’s done crying. She nudges Conn away from where he’s shoving his head between her and Klaus’s chins, and scratches behind his ears.

Klaus blinks. He stares at her and looks down at Conn. He carefully pushes Conn’s head down away from them. When he meets her gaze, she sees the sharpness in his look. He likes her because she can understand him, because she can see past the bravado. Very few people have noticed he sees past hers as well. 

He grin, sharp, wolf like. A dangerous crooked smile she loves. It makes her smile back. Yeah, sometimes he gets it.

“Very well, love. Not another bad word about the dog.” He pulls her fully on his lap. Conn moves so he’s pressed against her legs and hip on her side of the bed. Klaus’s fingers drag softly over jaw. “We will not let go unanswered, Camille.”

She wants to be the better person and tell him to let it go, but she’s too exhausted. She just wraps her arms around him.

-

When the others filter into the room minutes later, Cami realises that Elijah and Hayley must have heard them wake up and gave them a few minutes to themselves. She's greatful. They look as tried as Cami feels. Hayley is holding a sleepy looking Hope. Cami has a vague memory of Hope’s heartbreaking cries while the siblings tried to hold her lifeforce together. 

Freya hands Cami a cup full of something that smells like tea but probably has more than just tea leaves and water. 

“Here, it’s a witches brew.” See, what did she just say. “It’s to help balance out your system. You've been put through a mystical ringer. There’s some vervain in it too. You’ve had a lot vampire blood in your system, but,” Freya looks at Klaus who’s drinking from the tumbler of blood Elijah handed him, “let’s just say it’s better to be safe than sorry. I’ll see about any lingering compulsion later, but I think--”

Cami swallows hard. Her fingers trail across her neck. She shivers. “I completed what Aurora compelled me to do. I don’t think-- But if she or Lucien compelled me to do anything else I wouldn’t know, would I?” It’s a depressing and scary thing to think about. She doesn’t realise she grabbed for Klaus’ hand until he squeezes back. 

“We’ll keep an close eye on you until Freya does her check then,” Elijah says. 

“Oh, she won’t be leaving my sight.” Klaus adds, a little too lecherously for the situation at hand, but Cami is well versed in his deflection techniques. She threads their fingers together. “And we’ll be dealing with Aurora and Lucien soon enough, love.”

Hayley frowns at that. “It always feels weird when I agree with you, I just want you to know that.”

It makes Cami laugh. All three Mikaelson’s crack a smile. At her side, Conn shuffles over to let Hayley pet him. Hope wiggles her arms for her dad and Cami. Cami grabs her and settles her in her arms. Hope curls into Cami’s chest, sighing when Klaus strokes her head.

Of course it’s Elijah who breaks the moment. “Now that all of that is take care off--”

“It won’t be taken care of until Aurora is dust under my hands.”

“Klaus,” Cami sighs, because he’s too dramatic, not because she disagrees with the sentiment.

Elijah nods, “Agreed, Niklaus, but before that we have something of import to discuss. It seems that our efforts to save Camille had unexpected results from Freya’s end.”

Freya rolls her eyes, “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

Cami stares between Elijah, Freya, and Hayley who now look a mix of worried and sheepish and Klaus who tensed like a coiled viper. She catches his gaze. His arm slides around her back. “What do you mean… unexpected results?”

Hayley steps closer, brushing Hope’s hair back. She looks between Klaus, Cami, and Hope. She smiles. “So, remember how we have a magical miracle baby?”

Conn barks and Hope giggles into Cami’s neck.


End file.
